Archive for April, 2010

Gonzo gives gratitude to our favorite journalist

April 26, 2010 · Filed under Movie Review · Tagged , ,

We can't stop here! This is bat country!

Whether you know him as Johnny Depp racing across the desert toward Las Vegas with a drug-addled Benecio del Torro at his side or you have read of his radical, political viewpoints and cross country search for the American Dream, Hunter S. Thompson was a legendary journalist who captured the counter culture of a unique age in America. No one since has held the same disregard for typical American ideals while creating such a huge, reverent following.

Though you can still pick up nearly all his books in the nearest Barnes and Nobles and watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas while pining for the glory days of substance abuse and rebellion, there is nothing that compiled the wide array of Thompson’s life, attitude and works quite like Gonzo, the documentary-turned-memorial complete with personal interviews and footage from every period of the famed journalist’s life.

This movie includes everything from Thompson’s work with Rolling Stone and his attempt to run for sheriff of his town to excerpts from his works read by Depp. The film covers Thompson’s extensive projects, from his first major book about his year spent with the Hell’s Angels to his political coverage (including a rumor about an alleged pill-popping presidential candidate) to his Fear and Loathing exploits in Las Vegas.

Television interviews show him relaxed and confident as he converses about his journalistic endeavors while others show him talking and laughing as he lights a joint while on air. This movie reveals some of the crazier nuances of Hunter’s life. Family and friends reflect on his childhood in a lower-class family that sparked his initial bitterness toward the upper crust and instilled his belief that the American way of life was rigged.

As a young man, he typed The Great Gatsby repeatedly so he could better understand the rhythm of a keyboard. Later in life he had a pet bird named Edward that he would bounce ideas off of during his downtime. Though none of this was particularly surprising for a man with such an eccentric character, a run for sheriff certainly was. But that’s exactly what he did in Aspen County, Colo.

In the film, Depp reads Thompson’s platform about legalizing drugs and sewing the roads with grass seed while wielding a pistol. Thompson’s television ads show him riding through the mountains on his BSA Lightning motorbike, and election footage portrays him draped in an American flag and a gray-haired wig. He lost, if you couldn’t guess—but not by much. Thompson is known most for two things—his political journalism and his drug use.

Fear and Loathing was just the start: Countless friends blame him for introducing them to acid, from famous illustrator Ralph Steadman to lawyer Oscar Acosta (del Torro in Fear and Loathing). He was a proponent of civil rights and liberal political leaders, voicing his support for 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern. After McGovern lost, Thompson felt himself internalizing his politics, only to emerge from his Wild-Turkey haze when Jimmy Carter quoted Bob Dylan in a speech.

Though the wild side of Thompson is the one known most by fans and followers, he was a man who could be inspired by underdogs and thunderstruck by governmental hostilities. His first wife, Sandy, only ever saw him cry twice, once after he returned from the riots in Chicago. Even the close of his life is well-documented in the movie. His former wives confirmed that Thompson felt he was losing his edge as a writer, and he told his family time and time again that he would end his life through suicide.

And on Feb. 20, 2005, the legendary Gonzo journalist shot himself. It’s a powerful ending. Scenes of Thompson’s memorial service, complete with a two-thumbed fist monument and the scattering of his ashes are juxtaposed with an interview with Thompson where he stands on the very hillside where the monument would be erected and described what he wanted done for his funeral. Thompson was more than an eccentric writer who changed wigs in the middle of conversations and taught the world about drug use in a public, functional setting.

He was a journalist who broke down the barriers of professionalism and instilled a new energy in a medium that now faces extinction.

The world of the Gonzo journalist may be waning, but Thompson’s legacy lives on in the wild ride of Gonzo.

-Liz

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Yeah to Yeasayers

April 25, 2010 · Filed under CD Review · Tagged ,

Meowza!

When I heard Yeasayer’s “I Remember” off the experimental rock band’s latest album Odd Blood, I immediately asked for the album.

It was the first time in awhile a band I’d never heard of had caught my attention, but I loved the beat and the nearly dance-like quality of the track. It was a synthesizer-driven, melodic song, very pretty and very well put together.

Little did I know that the rest of the album would be radically different track to track. But folks, don’t let that deter you from this album. If you like synth, catchy beats and vocals that are easy on the ears, Yeasayer is a solid bet. Just bear in mind that these guys are an experimental, psychedelic rock band, and some of the music they make is pretty peculiar.

Opener “The Children” is a little bizarre right from the start, with a voice modulator skewing any sense of normalcy the vocals could have had. A simple piano beat repeats in the background, and it would almost turn me off from the album for sheer creepiness if I didn’t know how much fun the rest of the songs sounded.

“Ambling Alp” is a prime example of that.  A short glock rhythm leads into a poppy little jam about sticking up for yourself. The song has goofy little psych-pop interludes of abstract sounds and synth chords, but they don’t detract from catchiness of the track. Singer Chris Keating jumps from solid tenor lines to crazy, Scissor Sisters-like falsettos, but somehow it all works.

The following track, “Madder Red” is slower, but still as intricate as the previous. It’s a pretty, heartbreaking number, one that uses smatterings of electric guitar and steady drums to add a darker shade to the melody. “Even when my luck is down / I take joy in knowing that our love grows / But if my vices are a burden / Please don’t let me off / Cast me from your home,” Keating sings, and even though it’s a simple song, he does a phenomenal job of pulling off the sincerity. And the humming intro and underlay is really neat, too.

For as different as each song sounds, none are long enough to be overly off-putting. Half the album clocks in at less than four minutes a song and a couple of tracks are less than three.

Keating’s wild falsetto comes back with a vengeance in “Love Me Girl,” but three minutes in the lyrics drop away for a lengthy instrumental interlude. The vocals pick up again in the last minute and the song skirts the edge of a major style change, throwing in snatches of new age sounds just to be confusing.

“Rome” takes the album in a whole new direction. Think a more electric Franz Ferdinand (from the newest album, anyway).  Romping bass lines juxtaposed with some almost horn-like synth tones and buoyant lyrics give this one a surprisingly jazz feel. And it totally works.

Echoing verses, light clapping and layered beats give “Strange Reunions” a world-music feel, running the gambit on psychedelic sounds.

And then Yeasayer is off again with a whole new sound in the pounding, clapping, bass-heavy “Mondegreen,” (which, on a silly aside, is a word that means the misinterpretation of a lyric. It may be because of this intimidating title that no one has tried to post the lyrics for this one online yet).  Your hands might get tired of clapping after the first couple minutes, but you will definitely want to dance through this song.

The back half of the album is definitely the part dedicated to excessive, clapping beats. But interestingly enough, each one is so varied that it’s a subtle repetition.

Closer “Grizelda” takes the sound back to the more lilting numbers like “I Remember” and “Madder Red” as Keating sings about running from a regrettable act. The lyrics and the vibe of the song don’t really match up, but it’s still an awfully harmonious song.

Though Odd Blood is Yeasayer’s second album since 2007, you don’t need to be familiar with All Hour Cymbals to appreciate the new album.

Every track has its own unique take on Yeasayer’s feel, and they all work as solid tracks both on their own and as an album.

-Liz

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Shout Out Louds lose the fun in Work

April 23, 2010 · Filed under CD Review · Tagged , ,

Shout Out Louds is one of the those indie rock bands that nearly everyone can recognize on some level.
Whether you have an appreciation for Swedish Adam Olenius’s unique croon or a teenage girl infatuation after hearing “Very Loud” from Nick and Norah’s Ultimate Playlist, this band caught the scene’s attention with 2005’s Howl Howl Gaff Gaff and has been flying above the radar ever since.

However, the band’s sophomore release, Our Ill Wills, did not arrive with the oomph or receive the commotion of its predecessor, and breaths were held concerning Work, which dropped Feb. 23.

Would this band boast another “Very Loud” or “Tonight I Have To Leave It,” or would they fade back into indie obscurity? Work’s answer is, well, neither.

The band has hit the middle of the road, with nothing painful on the ears but also nothing slated for a familiar movie soundtrack. It’s still a neat little album, but there’s nothing amazing or new being created by Shout Out Louds here.

Of course, it’s the albums like this that are the hardest to review.

Racy tracks like piano-driven “1999” and “Fall Harder” are catchy enough while they are on, inducing some foot-tapping and head-nodding during their durations, but nothing is noteworthy enough to get caught in a listener’s head.

That’s not to say these songs are bad. The simple buoyancy of “Candle Burned Out” is refreshing and fun.
From “Walls” to “Too Late, Too Slow,” the guitar and percussion are solid together and Olenius’s voice never stops being pretty to hear. “Play The Game” and “Moon” are slower, more instrumental tracks that are some of the most appealing, measured songs Shout Out Louds has made.

“Show Me Something New,” the strongest track on the album, is the closest the band comes to recapturing that Howl Howl sound. “You and I have a hard thing to describe / You have so much to live for / I’m just dying to stay alive,” sings Olenius, and with an equally catchy chorus, this song dominates.

Ignoring the fact that every other song has been an emotional ode, this one was has a successful edge that isn’t reflected in the rest of the album. Which is a shame.

It’s tricky to explain how Work misses the mark. This album has so much potential that predominantly goes unreleased from number to number.

Each song is a cute track that is easily forgettable and, unless you are looking for some lovesick background noise to clean, nap or write a paper to, will come and pass without you noticing the transition from song to song.

Hopefully, Shout Out Louds will get it together for its next album and rally around its Howl Howl roots.

-Liz

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Dear Garbage Man, I missed you. Have some Kick-Ass!

April 23, 2010 · Filed under Movie Review · Tagged ,

But I have returned! I am going to cheat and get back on my feet (hehe) with some reviews I wrote for my college paper this year, but then we’ll get back into the real grind. Holler!

And we begin this rehabilitation with…some ass kicking.

It's not the comic, but it's still boss.

I’ll tell you what: There aren’t a whole lot of movies I will go to a theater to see twice. And there certainly aren’t many movies I would ever have interest in seeing twice in a row, yet there we were Friday night, driving back to La Salle from the Manyunk theater, when the question popped up. “So, um, you want to see that again? Like in 40 minutes?”

There was no hesitation. “Most definitely.”  Kick-Ass seems to be having that effect on people.
Superhero movies aren’t typically my forte. But that is why Kick-Ass is so good. It’s not about the awesomeness of superheros as they systematically defeat bad guys. It’s about what can drive a normal, everyday person to try to help the world. And for high school nobody and comic book freak Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), this became a journey into super-heroism.

Lizewski is tired of getting mugged, tired of feeling worthless in his boring life, tired of watching people turn their backs on others in need.  He is with his two closest, geekiest friends in a local comic book shop when the question arises: “Why hasn’t anyone tried to be a superhero?”

His friends scoff, but Lizewski buys a costume, makes a vigilante Myspace page and starts to train. Hilarity and disaster ensue.

Lizewski starts his vigiliantism with a near-death experience and a subsequent school rumor questioning his sexual preferences, but he remains undaunted as he becomes Kick-Ass, searching for lost kittens and chatting about petty crimes across the city in his green wetsuit-ish costume. But when a boy with a camera phone posts a video of Kick-Ass beating up some thugs, he becomes a cultural hit.

This phenomenon draws the attention of two parties: One Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong), a city drug lord who heard that people dressed as superheroes (presumably Kick-Ass) are killing his men and taking his money, and Damon (Nick Cage) and Mindy Macraedy (Chloe Moretz), the actual costumed heroes who are wrecking D’Amico’s business.

The kicker? Mindy, aka the purple-wigged, in-your-face Hitgirl, is an 11-year-old born and raised assassin.  And boy, is she spunky. With a nonchalant attitude and a sailor mouth to boot, she is one intense little girl.

But her childhood is not indicative of some government plot or militia nightmare. Her partner in crime, “Big Daddy” Cage, plays his role of eccentric, cutthroat dedicated father perfectly. He is constantly referring to Mindy as “child” while quizzing her on the velocity of bullets and the native names of butterfly knives. They make hot chocolate together while they are planning their next attack, and he is often seen pulling at his illustrious moustache when he’s thinking.

But Cage can pull a serious face when he needs to, like when rehashing his D’Amico-sponsored time in jail from a drug frame and his wife’s subsequent death.  And though I was skeptical of this casting, he handled it magnificently.

Now, I have never been one for gratuitous violence. I am in the minority of those who would rather watch something that isn’t a Tarantino film and cringe at bloody scenes in most movies. But what sets Kick-Ass apart is the sheer outrageousness of the plot and the lighthearted interjections, even at the most sobering of moments. When Lizewski thinks he is facing certain death, he reflects on what he will miss in his life, from wondering what his kids will look like to lamenting about never knowing what will happen on Lost.

This film had the potential to be a sociopathic nightmare, full of over-the-top gore and bloodlust, but director Matthew Vaughn pulled it off beautifully. And for those who cry foul at the thought of such a bloody, 11-year-old heroine and potential child role model—dude, the move is rated “R” for a reason.

I was initially nervous that I enjoyed the movie because I had read the comic books beforehand. But during our second stint at the theater we rounded up some folks who had no knowledge of the film, and they ate it up.

Coupled with the scattered cheers and applause that accompanied the viewing throughout its duration, my fears were soothed.

It seems like everyone is having a good time with Kick-Ass.

Annnnd we’re back in the game!

-Liz

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